This invention concerns improvements made to the ligatures for the mouthpiece of a single reed wind instrument. More particularly, it concerns a ligature for the mouthpiece of a wind instrument having a locking element and a means to distribute the clamping stress, leaning on the reed or on the mouthpiece of the instrument.
It is known, that in instruments such as the clarinet or the saxophone, the reed is maintained in place on the mouthpiece of the instrument by a clamp collar, called a ligature, which fits the general form of the mouthpiece and leans on the external rounded side of the reed, so that the flat side of the clamp is in contact with the flat side of the mouthpiece.
The ligature is slit along one of its generating lines, and assembled such that screws and threaded pins are placed on the two parts which face each other, in order to attach them, one to the other, to thus create a clamping action on the reed.
These ligatures can have many clamping screws (see FR-A-2 438 311) or only one single clamping screw (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,440 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,111.
These ligatures preferably have a rigid element of a curved shape that complements that of the mouthpiece of the clarinet or of the reed, which serves as a locking element and is placed between the mouthpiece or the reed and the opposite parts of the ligature, in order to be usually applied against the mouthpiece or the reed.
In this configuration, the clamping stress is exerted between the screw in the direction of its axis and thus is transformed into a pressure exerted on the locking element placed between the body of the ligature and the mouthpiece or the reed of the instrument, perpendicular to the mouthpiece, which conveys itself by an even more balanced distribution of the stress exerted by the ligature onto the mouthpiece and the reed of the instrument.
Commonly, on the surface turned towards the reed or the mouthpiece, the locking element usually has parts having a predetermined shape, for example, longitudinal ribs obtained by the stamping of this surface, which contributes to a greater distribution of the clamping stress and/or to an improved locking of the reed onto the instrument.
It is important to note that the clamping stresses exerted by locking elements having different predetermined shapes will result in different tonal characteristics. For example, the tone produced using a locking element with longitudinal ribs is different than the tone produced using a locking element with transverse ribs or a locking element with plurality of protrusions.
Musicians thus have choices as to the type of locking element and it often happens that they change the locking element according to how they interpret the score.
Inasmuch as the locking element is attached to the ligature, replacing this element is not very practical. In order to change a tonal quality, and the musician must replace the ligature itself with another ligature equipped with another locking element. This supposes, however, that there are several ligatures available, which could become expensive.